12/20/07 Condition of Pear Conditioning

Condition of Pear Conditioning. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Pears are a family favorite just about any time of year. According to Kevin Moffitt, President of Pear Bureau Northwest the average person that buys and enjoys pears tends to be in the minority. MOFFITT: Today's core consumer is a 25 to 54 year old, Caucasian, female, head of household, basically the majority without children but those with children, they're under 12 years old. The interesting thing is that 30% of the consumers are purchasing 90% of the pears being purchased. When it comes to fruit, consumers are really looking at it much like everything in our society, they want it ready, now. MOFFITT: 56% reported concerns about produce being overly ripe or not ripe enough. Does that sound familiar when you are talking to consumers about pears? They feel that it's a pretty short window for pears for example. Consumers want something to eat now. They don't want to wait anymore. In fact, consumers say the primary reason why they buy pears is for their flavor; conversely, the reason they don't buy pears is for their flavor. Those people probably had a bad pear experience. This is where conditioning comes in. MOFFITT: We want to try to overcome that experience. I think that's through unlocking the flavor and I think conditioning pears is one way we're going to be able to do that. They don't want to eat it next week, they want to eat it today, tomorrow or the next day and that will bring them back in the store in a shorter period of time to buy more pears. Moffitt recently spoke at the Washington State Horticulture Convention in Wenatchee. More tomorrow. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.